According to yesterday's news, quote, ‘a victim in the Rochdale grooming case has landed what’s believed to be a six-figure council pay-out for suffering caused by its social workers.

The girl was one of several victims who suffered horrific abuse at the hands of the notorious nine-strong child sex grooming gang – who were jailed in May 2012

It is understood the family of the girl has signed a confidentiality agreement as part of the pay-out preventing them from discussing it.

A spokesman for Rochdale council said it was unable to comment on the amount of the pay-out ‘

… and will the other victims receive compensation for pain, suffering and psychological distress / damages caused by the actions and lack of actions by the public sector service agencies involved in this, and in other similar cases ? Will conditional ' Gagging Orders ' prevail ! ?

Mojo Hill wrote: ‘It is understood the family of the girl has signed a confidentiality agreement as part of the pay-out preventing them from discussing it.’

So does that mean again those in charge at the time will not answer to their crimes of ignorance and be protected. A culture of silence! Who are they really protecting. The Social Services, the police and the Councillors who knew at the time

Mojo Hill wrote:‘It is understood the family of the girl has signed a confidentiality agreement as part of the pay-out preventing them from discussing it.’

So does that mean again those in charge at the time will not answer to their crimes of ignorance and be protected. A culture of silence! Who are they really protecting. The Social Services, the police and the Councillors who knew at the time

If this information is 100% correct, then that is unbelievable. A gagging clause to protect those who have failed and let down all the children who were abused.

Valid point Hinch. But bearing in mind we (as in Rochdale) are front page news when a sex gang is exposed and sentenced and then the issue raised in Parliament and people in power at Rochdale are quizzed by a committee I am stunned that nothing has been done.

The size and location of the town makes a difference. Services looking after children have formal procedures, but quality of work depends on less formal teamwork and communication, problematic with the size of Birmingham. All needs to be better organised.

The Serious Case Review about Hamzah Khan in Bradford did not answer the relevant questions. What happened with the one about Rochdale?

cyfrifia wrote:The size and location of the town makes a difference. Services looking after children have formal procedures, but quality of work depends on less formal teamwork and communication, problematic with the size of Birmingham. All needs to be better organised.

The Serious Case Review about Hamzah Khan in Bradford did not answer the relevant questions. What happened with the one about Rochdale?

Most of this upset has it's roots in background poverty and fractured communities, a vulnerable society meets badly controlled immigration, result, damage and ruined lives, bad reputation for the town and the political establishment contorting itself, avoiding the issues and covering up the failure.

Chill37 wrote:It does. It means , possibly, that there is something to hide within the dark corridors of power. A cover up I dare say. Allegedly.

I'm not sure why, at this stage, there's renewed publicity about the 2012 sex grooming trial held at Liverpool Crown Court. It's certainly diverting attention away from the recent 8 November convictions of 5 local men from two trials recently held under 'media blackouts' - Page 10 on this thread.

The following interview is behind tomorrow's front-page headline ' Gang Raped Me Hundreds Of Times' and the 2nd-page story in the local Ob paper:-

' Hannah (pseudonym) was just 15 when she was groomed and used for sex. After being lured with free gifts, she was plied with alcohol and systematically abused for seven months.

Hannah was just one of up to fifty girls to be passed around by a gang. The girls, who were all under 16, were forced to have sex with up to 20 men in one night. Hannah shares the story of how she went from a young Rochdale schoolgirl to a key witness in the trial of Britain's most notorious child sex ring.'

Surely the small number of victims involved in giving evidence then will each be entitled to compensation ?

Spartacus: Their paper's front page only comprises of this lurid Headline and an accompanying photo of the 'This Morning' interviewers - the same one as the link I posted owing to me not having the IT skills to detach and insert the video excerpt.

I'm stumped about the merits of a government investigation, as it again seems like asking The Establishment to investigate itself. We've been told that previous reviews by police, social services, public bodies and council representatives have looked at themselves - independently !

The latest tenet being 'floated' nationally, by public service reps, is that what we're really looking at are "systems" failures, not failures of individuals or their management. This latest 'spin' seems a very grim surrogate.

The local cases which have been publicised recently raise questions about the failings of statutory agencies (social services, police and CPS) who, it is said, failed to act on evidence of child sexual exploitation / street grooming – problems they were made aware of at least as far back as 2004 by health workers from Rochdale’s crisis intervention team (an NHS advisory clinic). Legal actions against the main statutory agencies may well be one of the main tools needed, but that cant happen if litigation and the costs are clandestine / gagged. A mire? I'd say its turned into a reeking ' midden '

This does seem to have been going on a long time, public bodies examining themselves and each other. Perhaps a group of statues carved in marble showing them doing so might make a suitable centerpiece for the town center?

These children were failed all round but, from the little I do know of it, I KNOW the police failed them time and time again.

Many people, employed by RMBC and other agencies, took their concerns straight to GMP where they fell on deaf ears. Some police officers at the time thought the girls were not worth their time and effort. Another echo of the "worthlessness" stigma that surrounded these vulnerable children.

GMP are not going to be too enthusiastic about putting their failings into a report are they? The need to polish it up is too much of a temptation. That's why we need an independent warts and all investigation. We will never have it though, not as long as those in power can't see past the end of their own nose let alone the warts beyond it.